Security system of construction machine

ABSTRACT

A security system of a construction machine of the present invention has a construction machine, a base station and a communication device. The construction machine comprises a data sending and receiving portion for sending first information, a storage portion for storing received information, and a control portion for controlling an operation of the construction machine. The base station receives the first information from the data sending and receiving portion of the construction machine and sends second information to the construction machine and manages the construction machine. It is configured so that the communication device is connected to the base station through a communication network and can send third information to the construction machine through the base station.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a system for managing an operatingstate of a construction machine such as an oil hydraulic shovel, andparticularly to a security system of the construction machine capable ofcoping with an accident or theft by giving and receiving informationusing a portable communication device.

BACKGROUND ART

Problems in which a construction machine is stolen from a constructionsite have occurred frequently. A construction machine provided at a worksite of a remote place is often left at the work site during work. Sucha work site differs from a storage place of the construction machinemonitored by an owner or a manager and theft prevention measures areinsufficient and it becomes a situation in which theft tends to occur.

A theft prevention apparatus of an oil hydraulic construction machine isdisclosed in JP-A-9-50584. In this theft prevention apparatus, when apredetermined personal identification number is entered at a key inputdevice, a pilot oil hydraulic source is communicated with a pilot valveand an action of an oil hydraulic device is permitted. When the personalidentification number is not inputted, the pilot oil hydraulic sourceand the pilot valve are shut off and the action of the oil hydraulicdevice is prohibited. There is also a description to the effect that theaction of the oil hydraulic device is permitted by inserting an IC cardinstead of key input.

A theft prevention apparatus of an oil hydraulic construction machine isdisclosed in JP-A-8-301072. In this theft prevention apparatus, when apredetermined personal identification number is not inputted from a keyinput device, even in the case of performing an engine startingoperation, a starter circuit does not operate and starting of an engineis prohibited.

However, in the theft prevention apparatus of these constructionmachines, an operation different from normalcy of key input or insertionof the IC card every time the engine attempts to be started must beperformed and its operation is troublesome. Also, in case of forgettingthe personal identification number or forgetting to carry the IC card,the construction machine cannot be operated and there is also adisadvantage incapable of doing work.

On the other hand, a system for notifying a server of a managementcenter for managing a construction machine of position information aboutsaid construction machine is disclosed in JP-A-2000-73411. According tothis system, for example, an operating area of the construction machineis preset and a manager resident in the management center decideswhether or not to deviate from the operating area based on positioninformation sent from the construction machine to the management centerthrough an artificial satellite. When the system decides that itdeviates from the operating area, for example, it is configured so as tostop an engine by sending a signal for stopping an engine of theconstruction machine from the management center to the constructionmachine and breaking the passage of electric current through an enginestarter motor and cutting fuel. The system acquires the positioninformation about the construction machine all the time using a GPS(Global Positioning System).

In the management center side, by receiving this notification,occurrence of theft of the construction machine can know early andproper measures, for example, a report to the police or arrangements foran alternative machine, etc. can be taken speedily.

However, when the theft of the construction machine occurs, only sendingof the position information to the management center is insufficient.That is, there are cases that a manager resident in the managementcenter for managing the construction machine is absent or the number ofpersons sufficient to take proper measures cannot be obtained. Further,there is a case that the manager oneself cannot take full measures.Because of that, delay of measures against such a situation occurs, andthere occur disadvantages in which finding of the stolen constructionmachine and its recovery become impossible or in which work cannot becontinued at its work site.

Also, other than the theft described above, there is a case that theconstruction machine fails at the work site and results in being unableto operate. In such a case, a serviceman etc. are immediately sent tomake repairs, or measures in which consultation from an operator of theconstruction machine is received, etc. are required. However, eventhough a system for sending information about an accident etc. from theconstruction machine side to a server is built, there is a case thatspeedy measures cannot be taken still. In addition, although it isextremely important to know the present and past operating informationabout the construction machine to make its repair, when an accident suchas a failure of the construction machine occurs, there is a case thatexact measures cannot be taken even though occurrence of a failure etc.is reported from the server to the serviceman etc.

Also, it is conceivable that a communication device provided in theconstruction machine is detached or destroyed. In this case, because theconstruction machine cannot send the position information to the serverof the management center and the management center does not know whetheror not the construction machine is within a work area, the managementcenter cannot decide whether or not to stop a run of the constructionmachine. Even though the management center sends a run stop signal forstopping the run of the construction machine, the construction machinecannot receive its run stop signal and speedy measures against theftcannot be taken.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is implemented in view of such circumstances, andan object of the invention is to provide a security system of aconstruction machine capable of speedily coping with a case that asituation necessary to urgently cope with theft etc. of the constructionmachine occurs.

According to the present invention for achieving the object describedabove, there is provided a security system of a construction machine,comprising a construction machine comprising a data sending andreceiving portion for sending first information, a storage portion forstoring received information and a control portion for controlling anoperation of the construction machine, a base station for receiving thefirst information from the data sending and receiving portion of theconstruction machine and sending second information to the constructionmachine and managing the construction machine, and a communicationdevice which is connected to the base station through a communicationnetwork and can send third information to the construction machinethrough the base station.

The first information may relate to operating information about theconstruction machine, and the communication device requests acquisitionof the first information from the base station. The communication devicemay comprise one or plural fixed type and portable type communicationdevices.

The communication network between the base station and the communicationdevice is the Internet, and the fixed type communication device is aterminal including a personal computer capable of being connected to thecommunication network, and the portable type communication devicecomprises a portable phone.

The first information includes information about theft of theconstruction machine. The first information may be sent from the basestation to the communication device by electronic mail.

The storage portion stores an operable operating area, and the controlportion decides that the construction machine has been stolen when it isdetected that the construction machine moves beyond the operating area.The second information includes information about the operating area andis stored in the storage portion as a new operating area when theconstruction machine receives the information about the operating area.The communication device sends the third information to the base stationand thereby the base station sends the second information to theconstruction machine. When the operating area is set, the constructionmachine sends an answer back signal indicating the completion of settingof the operating area to the base station and thereby the base stationknows the completion of setting of the operating area.

Also, the first information includes information about failure/accidentof the construction machine.

The first information includes information as to whether theconstruction machine is operating or stopping at present and informationabout cumulative operating time. The communication device requests thebase station to acquire the first information from the constructionmachine, and the base station sends the second information so as toacquire the first information from the construction machine at a pointin time of receiving the third information from the communicationdevice.

Information about an operation of the construction machine is regularlysent from the construction machine to the base station as operatinghistory information, and the operating information about theconstruction machine is acquired by the communication device through theInternet.

The second information sent from the base station includes informationabout an operable time zone or an operable period of the constructionmachine. The storage portion of the construction machine stores theoperable time zone or the operable period of the construction machinebased on the second information, and the control portion of theconstruction machine prohibits an operation of the construction machinebeyond the operable time zone or the operable period stored.

The third information sent from the communication device relates to theoperable time zone or the operable period in the base station, and thebase station sends the second information to the construction machinebased on the third information received from the communication device.Here, the operation includes at least travel.

The construction machine comprises a position detecting portion fordetecting a position of said construction machine. When a predeterminedoperation is performed with respect to the construction machine, thecontrol portion reads the operating area stored in the storage portionand also inputs the present position information of the constructionmachine from the position detecting portion and compares the operatingarea with the position information of the construction machine. Here,the predetermined operation is a starting operation of a prime moverprovided in the construction machine.

In the case of deciding that the construction machine is beyond theoperating area, the control portion outputs a signal for prohibiting anoperation of the construction machine, and sends the decision result tothe base station.

The communication device may be a portable type communication terminal,and further the portable type communication terminal may be a portablephone.

The base station is provided with map information, and the base stationor the communication device reads the map information, and the operatingarea is set based on this read map information. The map information isdivided into plural sections, and the base station or the communicationdevice selects and sets an operating area from among the dividedsections. Plural areas can be set as the operable area.

The construction machine comprises a position detecting portion fordetecting a position of the construction machine. When a state in whicha signal according to information from the outside cannot be received bythe control portion of the construction machine occurs and the durationof the signal non-receivable state exceeds reference time, the controlportion prohibits engine starting of the construction machine or breaksan oil hydraulic system.

When a state in which a signal according to a position by the positiondetecting portion cannot be received occurs and the duration of thesignal non-receivable state exceeds reference time, engine starting ofthe construction machine is prohibited or an oil hydraulic system isbroken.

When a state in which the control portion cannot receive a signalaccording to information from the center server occurs and the durationof the signal non-receivable state exceeds reference time, enginestarting of the construction machine is prohibited or an oil hydraulicsystem is broken.

The construction machine comprises a disconnection detection portioncomprising a disconnection detection wiring, and a concentration cableformed by bundling antenna wiring of the position detecting portion,antenna wiring of the sending and receiving portion and thedisconnection detection wiring. When the disconnection detection wiringis cut at the time of cutting of the concentration cable, the controlportion prohibits engine starting of the construction machine or breaksan oil hydraulic system according to a disconnection detection signalsent from the disconnection detection portion.

The engine starting is prohibited by breaking a current-carrying systemor a fuel supply system of the construction machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is the whole configuration diagram of a management system of aconstruction machine in a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control apparatusof the construction machine in the first embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart diagram showing a setting procedure of anoperating area of the construction machine in the first embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart diagram showing a management procedure of theftinformation.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart diagram showing a procedure for acquiring a methodabout an operating state of the construction machine from the side of acommunication device through a server.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram showing a theft prevention system ofan oil hydraulic shovel in a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a control system ofthe oil hydraulic shovel.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing one example of operable time zone setting.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing one example of theft prevention controlperformed by a main control unit of the oil hydraulic shovel.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another example of operable time zonesetting.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing one example of operable time zone setting.

FIG. 12 is the whole configuration diagram of a form of a theftprevention system in a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of a control apparatus 302in the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of operating area setting.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing processing in a personal computer ownedby a user in the case of the operating area setting.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of processing performed by a server acting as abase station in the case of the operating area setting.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of processing performed by a control apparatus inthe case of the operating area setting.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of processing performed in the control apparatusin the case of operating a key switch for starting an engine.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a relation between the control apparatusand an engine starting circuit.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram of operating area setting.

FIG. 21 is a main configuration diagram of the case of setting anoperating area from a portable personal computer.

FIG. 22 is a main configuration diagram of the case of setting anoperating area using a portable terminal device.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram of conventional operating areasetting.

FIG. 24 is a diagram schematically showing the whole configuration of aperipheral system including a construction machine to which a theftprevention method according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 25 is a side view showing an oil hydraulic shovel as one example ofa construction machine to which a theft prevention method according tothe present invention is applied.

FIG. 26 is a diagram schematically showing a relation between oilhydraulic shovels arranged at each of many work sites and a basestation.

FIG. 27 is a block configuration diagram showing internal configurationsof a main controller, a GPS device and a communication device of an oilhydraulic shovel for implementing a theft prevention method according tothe present invention and configurations of peripheral associatedportions.

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing a flow for stopping an action of the oilhydraulic shovel by a signal non-receivable state of the GPS device.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a flow for stopping an action of the oilhydraulic shovel by a signal non-receivable state of the communicationdevice.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing a flow for stopping an action of the oilhydraulic shovel by a signal non-receivable state of a GPS signal by theGPS device.

FIG. 31 is a configuration diagram of a control apparatus, a GPS deviceand a disconnection detection portion of an oil hydraulic shovel andtheir peripheral portions.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing a flow for stopping an action of the oilhydraulic shovel according to disconnection detection of thedisconnection detection portion.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

First to fourth embodiments of the present invention will be describedbelow with reference to the drawings.

First Embodiment

Management of a construction machine may be performed directly by itsowner, however, for example, a method for performing centralizedmanagement by a subcontract to a management center owned by aconstruction machine maker is also being adopted widely. Also, in recentyears, a method in which a contractor for doing works receives loan of aconstruction machine from a rental company or a lease company isbecoming widespread. Further, a construction machine maker or a servicecompany leading experienced servicemen etc. generally performsmaintenance such as maintenance, inspection and necessary repair of theconstruction machine. That is, a contractor for operating theconstruction machine and doing works actually, an owner, a manager, asupporter for performing maintenance, etc. are concerned in theconstruction machine. In case that an abnormal situation such as theftoccurs in the construction machine, the owner as well as the manager formanaging said construction machine have very important concern andfurther, the fact that the supporter for performing maintenance, etc.realizes such an abnormal situation is very effective in taking measuresagainst the situation.

Generally, it is configured so that a server is provided in themanagement center for managing a construction machine and variousinformation is given and received between this server and theconstruction machine. In the present invention, it is configured so asto build a communication network between a communication device held byeach of the concerned parties described above, namely the owner of theconstruction machine or the supporter for performing maintenance, etc.and the server. Here, the communication device for building thecommunication network includes terminals of a personal computer etc.placed in an office of a lease company, a rental company, etc., namely afixed type communication device or a portable type communication deviceincluding a portable phone. Communications of necessary information areconducted between the server and the fixed type and portable typecommunication devices.

First, it is placed so that predetermined information can be transmittedfrom the server to all the communication devices or it is placed so thataccess can be obtained from all the communication devices to the server.This information includes theft information about a constructionmachine. In this theft information, notification that abnormality hasoccurred is received by the server or is detected by the server throughcommunication from the construction machine and it is necessary tourgently inform each the concerned party of this information, so that itis generally configured so as to passing the information to all thecommunication devices instantaneously.

In the fact that a construction machine has been stolen, it isconfigured so as to set an operating area of said construction machineand monitor a location of this construction machine by a GPS. Then, itis considered that this construction machine has been stolen when theconstruction machine moves beyond the set operating area. Therefore,when the operating area of the construction machine is set, it isconfigured so that the server present in the management center makesthis area setting basically. However, it is desirably configured so thatpersons in authority in addition to this, for example, the owner of theconstruction machine, etc. can also make the setting. In this case, aparticular machine (a terminal in authority) or a portable phone alwayscarried by a management representative among the terminals of a personalcomputer etc. placed in an office of a lease company or a rentalcompany, etc. makes the area setting through the server. In this case,the fact that the area setting has been made actually is sent from theconstruction machine side to the server as an answer back signal. Then,in the case that the area setting has been made by the terminal inauthority, an answer back signal is transferred from the server to thisterminal.

There are cases that a construction machine fails or results in aninoperable state for some reason as information that is desirable tourgently inform each the concerned party other than theft. Thus, when asituation of a failure etc. occurs, notification is provided from theconstruction machine side to the server by communication. When theserver receives this notification, it communicates with all the fixedtype and portable type communication devices still. The theftinformation or information such as theft information and accidentinformation necessary to urgently notify is transmitted by electronicmail.

Information about actual operating time of the construction machine isextremely important for a lease company or a rental company, etc. forrelation of a demand for charge and so on. Also, when a serviceman etc.of a service company, a supporter of the construction machine canacquire information about an operating state or an operating history,etc. of the construction machine at the time of receiving the failureinformation described above or the time of performing maintenance, etc.,it is very useful to make inspection or repair, etc. of the machine.However, this kind of information can have only to acquire informationaccording to a request as required. Whether the fixed type or portabletype communication device, each the communication device building acommunication network is configured so that these information can berequired of the server.

With respect to an operating state of the construction machine, that is,whether or not it is operating at present and cumulative operating timeamong the required information described above, the construction machinecalled from the server to acquire these information. Then, it istransferred from the server to the communication device which hasrequired. On the other hand, an operating history of the constructionmachine becomes vast information, so that the information is sent fromthe construction machine side to the server, for example, once per day.Then, this operating history information is edited in an easy-to-viewstate by performing various processing in the server side and ispublished on a home page. Therefore, when this home page is viewed fromeach the communication device, information about the operating historyof the construction machine can be acquired in arranged form.

A first embodiment of the present invention will be described below indetail with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the whole configuration of a security systemin the embodiment in the present invention. The system comprises aconstruction machine 1, a management center 2 for managing theconstruction machine, a control apparatus 10 which is provided in theconstruction machine and includes sending and receiving means, a server20 provided in the management center, a database 21 for accumulatingoperating information and the other necessary information about theconstruction machine, a communication unit 22 for communicating with thecontrol apparatus 10 provided in the construction machine, and anintranet and Internet 30. Incidentally, sending and receiving areperformed between the construction machine 1 and the management center 2using satellite communication or a portable communication network and soon.

Also, numerals 40, 41, . . . are terminals capable of setting anoperating area etc. in which the construction machine 1 operates(hereinafter generically called terminals 40), and numerals 50, 51, . .. are portable terminals (hereinafter generically called portableterminals 50). Here, the terminal 40 is a fixed type communicationdevice made of a personal computer etc. placed in an office of an ownerof the construction machine, for example, a rental company, a leasecompany and so on. This terminal 40 is means for setting the operatingarea of the construction machine 1 along with the server 20 as aterminal in authority as described below. Also, the terminal 40 includesa fixed type communication device placed in a service company forsupporting this construction machine. However, the fixed typecommunication device in the service company can also be limited so thatthe operating area cannot be set. Also, the portable terminal 50 is aportable type communication device including a portable phone etc.registered as a concerned party of the construction machine 1. Acommunication network is formed between these one or plural terminals 40and portable terminals 50 and the server 20. Here, the portable terminal50 forming the communication network is means carried by a particularperson concerned in the construction machine 1, for example, its owner,a supporter such as a serviceman, etc. (herein after called a concernedparty). It may be configured so that the operating area can be set from,for example, a portable phone owned by a manager in a rental company ora lease company, etc. among these portable terminals 50.

The server 20 is connected to the database 21 and the communication unit22, and performs setting of an operating area in which the constructionmachine 1 operates, acquisition of operating information about theconstruction machine 1, setting of an electronic mail address sent incase of theft occurrence, etc. and the other processing, and sends amatter such as theft occurrence necessary to urgently make contact withthe concerned party to the preset electronic mail address by electronicmail. The database 21 is connected to the server 20, and storesinformation about the construction machine 1 or the electronic mailaddress etc. for sending electronic mail. The communication unit 22 isconnected to the server 20, and sends and receives data to the controlapparatus 10 provided in the construction machine 1. The terminal 40 isconnected to the intranet and Internet 30, and setting of an area inwhich the construction machine 1 operates or setting of an electronicmail address for sending electronic mail, etc. are made. Also, in casethat theft occurs, the terminal 40 receives a notification to the effectthat the theft occurs by electronic mail. The portable terminal 50 isconfigured so as to be able to be connected to the Internet 30 always,and receives a notification necessary to urgently notify in case thattheft occurs, etc. by electronic mail. Also, more detailed operatinginformation about the construction machine 1 can be acquired byrequesting acquisition of information from the server 20 through theInternet 30.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of the control apparatus 10provided in the construction machine 1. In FIG. 2, numeral 100 is a busconnected to a CPU 101, a GPS receiving unit 102, operating area storagememory 103, an operating area determination portion 104, operating statememory 109, a timer 106, a sending and receiving unit 107, machinenumber storage memory 108 of the construction machine 1, and a failurepart detection portion 110.

The CPU 101 is a central processing unit connected to the bus 100, andperforms control of the GPS receiving unit 102, the operating areastorage memory 103, the operating area determination portion 104, theoperating state memory 109, the timer 106, the sending and receivingunit 107, the machine number storage memory 108 and the failure partdetection portion 110. The GPS receiving unit 102 is connected to thebus 100 and the operating area determination portion 104, and receives aposition of the construction machine 1 from a GPS 60, and sends data ofthe position of the construction machine 1 to the operating areadetermination portion 104. The operating area storage memory 103 isconnected to the bus 100 and the operating area determination portion104, and previously stores an operating area in which the constructionmachine 1 operates. The operating area determination portion 104 isconnected to the bus 100, the GPS receiving unit 102 and the operatingarea storage memory 103, and always monitors whether or not the presentposition of the construction machine 1 obtained from the GPS receivingunit 102 deviates from the operating area stored in the operating areastorage memory 103. The operating state memory 109 is connected to thebus 100 and an input/output device 105, and stores an operating state ofthe construction machine 1. The timer 106 is connected to the bus 100,and holds the time and date. The sending and receiving unit 107 isconnected to the bus 100, and sends and receives data between thecontrol apparatus 10 and the management center 2. The machine numberstorage memory 108 is connected to the bus 100, and stores the number ofthe construction machine 1. The input/output device 105 is connected tothe operating state memory 109 and sensors or the like S1, S2, S3, . . .provided in each place of the construction machine 1, and is configuredso that information about operating states such as operating time andthe number of revolutions of an engine, driving time of an oil hydraulicpump or each an oil hydraulic actuator, etc., variations in workingpressure of each the oil hydraulic actuator, or various information,such as residual amounts of a fuel tank and a working oil tank, aboutthe construction machine 1 is written into the operating state memory109.

In the basic configuration described above, it is configured so thatvarious information can be transmitted between the construction machine1 and the server 20, between the server 20 and the terminals 40, andbetween the server 20 and the communication terminals 50. As a varietyof these information transmission, there are operating area setting ofthe construction machine 1, information about theft of the constructionmachine 1, information about an accident other than theft, informationabout an operating state of the construction machine 1, informationabout an operating history, and so on.

An operating area of the construction machine 1 is a criterion fordetermining whether or not the construction machine 1 has been stolen.The operating area is set by the server 20 and the terminal 40 or theparticular portable terminal 50. The construction machine 1 operates ata predetermined work site and in view of the nature, travel of a longdistance is not performed. Therefore, it may be configured so that arelatively narrow area can be set as the operating area. In settingaspects, a method for using the present position of the constructionmachine 1 as a criterion and a method for using administrative sectionssuch as prefectures or municipalities as a criterion are generally used.

When the operating area is set by either method, in the case of makingsetting from the terminal 40, this information is transmitted from theInternet 30 to the server 20, and also in the case of making setting inthe server 20 side, it is directly sent from the server 20 to thesending and receiving unit 107 of the construction machine 1 and isstored in the operating area storage memory 103. Since data about thisoperating area setting is very important, when information is capturedin the operating area storage memory 103, it is sent to the server 20 asan answer back signal. Also, in the case of setting the area in theterminal 40, the answer back signal is transferred from the server 20 tosaid terminal 40.

Here, it is decided that the construction machine 1 has been stolen whenit is detected that the construction machine 1 has moved beyond the areaset as described above. When it is decided that it has been stolen,theft information is immediately sent from the sending and receivingunit 107 forming the control apparatus 10 of the construction machine 1to the server 20. This theft information is extremely important andurgent information and it is necessary to speedily notify all theportable terminals 50 carried by concerned parties as well as a managerof the terminals 40 of the theft information. Therefore, this theftinformation is instantaneously sent to all the terminals 40 and all theportable terminals 50 as urgent information by electronic mail.Incidentally, the same applies to the case of setting the operating areafrom the particular portable terminal 50.

Also, in the case that the construction machine 1 fails or becomes aninoperable state (hereinafter called failure information) except for thecase that an engine stops, that is, a power source stops and the controlapparatus 10 does not operate, in a manner similar to the theftinformation, failure information is sent from the construction machine 1to the server 20 and this information is also immediately sent to all ofthe terminals 40 and the portable terminals 50 by electronic mail.

Further, operating state information about the construction machine 1 isrecorded from various sensors or the like S1, S2, . . . to the operatingstate memory 109 through the input/output device 105 by the controlapparatus 10 of the construction machine 1. Therefore, in the case ofmaking a request from any of the terminals 40 or the portable terminals50, it is configured so that the server 20 calls the constructionmachine 1 and requested information is acquired. Here, particularly inthe case that there is a special reason that a display screen of aportable phone acting as the portable terminal 50 is small, etc., it isconfigured so as to fetch only predetermined limited information. Thisoperating state information includes at least information as to whetheror not the construction machine 1 is operating at present and cumulativeoperating time of that day, and also is limited to cumulative operatingtime to the present since the construction machine was carried into awork site or only the other necessary information.

Then, an operating history of the construction machine 1 is various dataabout operation of the construction machine 1 of, for example, one dayand this data is accumulated in the operating state memory 109. Then,said data is sent from the construction machine 1 to the server 20, forexample, once per day. Information received by the server 20 ispublished on a home page of the Internet 30 as an easy-to-view list formetc. by performing various processing in the side of this server 20.Therefore, the terminals 40 and the portable terminals 50 can acquireinformation about the operating history of the construction machine 1 byopening this home page.

Thus, a processing procedure about management of theft information willfirst be described based on flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4. First, as shownin FIG. 3, persons in authority such as a manager for managing theconstruction machine 1 and an owner of the construction machine 1(hereinafter, called operating area setting authorities) performinitialization using the terminals 40, 50 connected to the server 20through the intranet and Internet 30 or the server 20. In this case, forthe purpose of making it impossible to make setting by persons otherthan the operating area setting authorities, a limit to the setting isimposed using an ID and a password. The operating area setting authorityfirst identifies a construction machine for performing initialization(step S11). This is performed for identifying a construction machine forperforming initialization when the management center for managing theconstruction machine manages plural construction machines. In thepresent embodiment, identification of the construction machine is madeby the number of the construction machine, but is not limited to this.

Next, an operating area in which a target construction machine operatesis set (step S12). In setting of this operating area, a possible area inwhich the construction machine moves in the case of doing work etc. isset and when the construction machine exceeds the set area, it isrecognized that theft has occurred and notification to the server 20 ofthe management center is provided. Incidentally, this operating area canbe set freely, for example, an area of a quadrilateral obtained fromcoordinates of four points or a circle obtained from the center and aradius (see FIG. 23) is set using the present position of theconstruction machine 1 as a criterion, or an area is set as a unit etc.of administrative sections such as prefectures or municipalities (seeFIG. 14). Then, when theft has occurred, a manager of the server 20 setsan electronic mail address of a destination notified of the theft (stepS13). At this time, all the electronic mail addresses of the portableterminals 50 owned by concerned parties, specifically portable phonesetc. of the concerned parties as well as the terminals 40 or theparticular portable terminals 50 are also set. These identification ofthe construction machine, setting of the operating area and setting ofthe electronic mail address are made on a home page stored in the server20, and the registered contents are stored in the database 21 connectedto the server 20 (step S14). Incidentally, in the setting of theelectronic mail address, only the change contents are set in the case ofchange after setting is first made.

Then, the number of the construction machine and the set operating areaamong the registered contents are sent to the sending and receiving unit107 of the control apparatus 10 provided in the construction machine 1from the communication unit 22 through wireless. The sent contents arestored in the machine number storage memory 108 and the operating areastorage memory 103 through the bus 100 (step S16). Incidentally, in thepresent embodiment, setting of the number of the construction machine ismade from the management center 2 by wireless, but is not limited tothis, and the number of the construction machine maybe set in themachine number storage memory 108. As a result of this, the operatingarea can be set in the construction machine 1. The initialization endsabove.

Next, an actual action for managing theft information will be describedbased on the flowchart of FIG. 4. After performing the initialization inthe procedure of FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not theconstruction machine 1 is actually present within the operating areaalways. That is, the GPS receiving unit 102 provided in the controlapparatus 10 acquires a position of the construction machine 1 withpredetermined timing from the GPS 60 (step S21). The acquired positionis sent to the operating area determination portion 104. In theoperating area determination portion 104, the present position of theconstruction machine 1 sent from the GPS receiving unit 102 is comparedwith the operating area stored in the operating area storage memory 103(step S22) and when it is decided that the present position of theconstruction machine 1 is within the operating area, theft has notoccurred, so that a position of the construction machine 1 is acquiredsubsequently (step S21).

On the other hand, when it is decided that the present position of theconstruction machine 1 is beyond the operating area, it is consideredthat theft may have occurred, and an interrupt is generated to the CPU101 so as to notify the management center. The CPU 101 receives thisinterrupt, and instructs the sending and receiving unit 107 to providenotification to the effect that the construction machine 1 is beyond theset operating area with respect to the management center 2. By theinstructions of the CPU 101, the sending and receiving unit 107 providesthe notification to the effect that the construction machine 1 is beyondthe operating area with respect to the communication unit 22 connectedto the server 20 of the management center 2 (step S23). At this time,the number of the construction machine stored in the machine numberstorage memory 108, the time and date held by the timer 106 and thepresent position received by the GPS receiving unit are sent from thesending and receiving unit 107. When the server 20 receives thenotification to the effect that the construction machine 1 is beyond theoperating area, it is decided that the construction machine 1 may havebeen stolen. At this time, the database 21 is retrieved based on thenumber of the construction machine sent at the same time (step S24).Plural electronic mail addresses corresponding to the number of theconstruction machine are stored in the database 21. That is, electronicmail addresses of each the terminal 40 and each the portable terminal 50necessary to provide notification of this theft information are detectedby retrieving the database 21.

Thus, the server 20 sends electronic mail to the retrieved pluralelectronic mail addresses through the Internet 30 (step S25). Timebeyond the operating area and information about a position immediatelybefore being beyond the operating area in addition to the number of theconstruction machine which is beyond the operating area are attached tothis electronic mail. By the above, when theft of the constructionmachine 1 has occurred, all the concerned parties can know that theftinstantaneously. As a result of this, measures can speedily be takenagainst the theft of the construction machine. That is, a report to thepolice, arrangements for an alternative machine, the other postprocessing performed at a work site, etc. can be made speedily. Byenabling speedy measures in this manner, the possibility capable oftaking back the stolen machine increases and also occurrence of troublewith subsequent work at the work site can be suppressed to a minimum.

The above procedure relates to the theft information about theconstruction machine 1, and failure information, which is urgentinformation comparable to this theft information, about the constructionmachine 1 is also instantaneously reported to the terminals 40 and theportable terminals 50 held by the concerned parties of this constructionmachine 1 by a similar procedure. In the theft information by the factthat the construction machine 1 is beyond the operating area, it hasonly to report the number of the construction machine 1 which is beyondthe operating area, time beyond the operating area, and a positionimmediately before being beyond the operating area. On the other hand,in the failure information about the construction machine 1, moredetailed information is required. That is, it is desirable to acquireinformation including at least the thing as to which part of the machinehas failed. Thus, it is desirable to provide the failure part detectionportion 110 in the control apparatus 10 of the construction machine 1and send information from this failure part detection portion 110, thatis, information as to which part has failed together.

As described above, in order that a person who has received the failureinformation in this manner copes with that and can always know operatingtime etc. of the construction machine 1 in a rental company, a leasecompany, etc., it is configured so that sending of information aboutoperating states of the construction machine 1 can be requested from theterminal 40 or the portable terminal 50 at any time. Thus, a procedureof acquisition of this kind of information is shown in FIG. 5.

That is, in FIG. 5, in the case that a manager or a concerned partyacquires information about an operating state of the constructionmachine 1, notification to the effect that the operating state of theconstruction machine 1 want to be known is sent from the terminal 40 orthe portable terminal 50 to the server 20 (step S31). When the server 20receives this notification (step S32), notification of its reception isprovided with respect to the sending and receiving unit 107 of thecontrol apparatus 10 provided in the construction machine 1 through thecommunication unit 22 (step S33). The sending and receiving unit 107generates an interrupt with respect to the CPU 101 in the case ofreceiving this notification. The CPU 101 instructs the operating statememory 109 to acquire the operating state in the case of receiving thisinterrupt. The operating state memory 109 acquires data of the operatingstate of the construction machine 1 from the input/output device 105(step S34), and sends the data of the operating state of theconstruction machine 1 to the sending and receiving unit 107. Thesending and receiving unit 107 sends the received data of the operatingstate to the communication unit 22 of the management center 2 (stepS35). The server 20 receives data of the operating state of theconstruction machine 1 from the communication unit 22, and stores thedata in the database 21 (step S36). Also, the data of the operatingstate of the construction machine 1 is sent to a destination of arequester by electronic mail (step S37). At this time, the data of theoperating state of the construction machine 1 may be sent to all theelectronic mail addresses stored in the database 21 as well as therequester.

Here, with regard to what information is sent as information about theoperating state of the construction machine 1, information as to whetheror not the construction machine 1 is operating at present and cumulativeoperating time from that day or the time of being carried into a siteare included at the minimum, and further it is desirably configured sothat information about a malfunction part etc. can also be sent. Sincevarious data are recorded in the operating state memory 109, all thedata accumulated in this operating state memory 109 can also be sent.However, it is not preferable to send a very large amount of informationin electronic mail and also a display area of information is narrow in aportable phone acting as the portable terminal 50, so that it is notnecessary that information capable of acquisition based on a requestshould be all the information actually accumulated in the operatingstate memory 109, and it is desirable to be set to the limitedinformation.

However, it is necessary to be configured so that the concerned partiescan be notified of various information about operation of theconstruction machine 1. Thus, it is set so as to periodically send allthe data accumulated in the operating state memory 109 from theconstruction machine 1 to the server 20, for example, once per day.Then, various information acquired by the server 20 from theconstruction machine 1 through periodical sending is stored in thedatabase 21 of the server 20 as arranged easy-to-view operating historyinformation such as a daily report form about the construction machine 1by performing data processing in the side of the server 20. Then, it isset so that a home page for portable terminal is prepared in the server20 and these information is published on this home page. As a result ofthis, various information about the operating state of said constructionmachine 1 can be acquired by viewing the home page from the portableterminal 50. Therefore, in the case of making repairs etc. on failure ofthe machine, exact measures can be taken by viewing this home page.

Second Embodiment

A second embodiment of the case of applying the present invention to atheft prevention system of an oil hydraulic shovel will be described byFIGS. 6 to 9.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a theft prevention system in thesecond embodiment. In the present system, information can be sent from abase station 240 placed in a construction machine maker etc. to an oilhydraulic shovel (construction machine) 210 through a communicationsatellite 230. The sent information includes information about anoperable time zone of the oil hydraulic shovel 210, and the oilhydraulic shovel 210 receiving the information takes theft preventionmeasures of itself based on its information. Information about theoperable time zone is based on information from a communication device250 of a user etc. owning the oil hydraulic shovel 210. A concreteconfiguration will be described below.

Each the oil hydraulic shovel 210 has a main control unit 211, a controlunit 212 for communication, and a GPS control unit 213 as shown in FIG.7. The GPS control unit 213 receives radio waves from plural GPSsatellites 220 (FIG. 6) and calculates position information about eachthe oil hydraulic shovel 210 and also acquires the present time. Theposition information and time information are inputted to the maincontrol unit 211. The position information of these is used fornotifying the base station 240 of the present position of theconstruction machine, and the time information is used for theftprevention described below. The control unit 212 for communicationreceives operable time zone information etc. sent from the base station240 and inputs the information to the main control unit 211.

Also, the main control unit 211 switches ON/OFF of a starter relay 217according to conditions. The starter relay 217 is interposed between astarter motor 215 of an engine 214 and an engine key switch 216, andwhen the relay 217 is ON, the starter motor 215 is driven with anoperation of the key switch 216 and the engine 214 is started. On theother hand, when the relay 217 is OFF, even in the case of operating thekey switch 216, a current is not passed through the starter motor 215and the engine 214 is not started.

A center server 241 is placed in the base station 240. The center server241 has information sending and receiving functions, and sendsinformation to the oil hydraulic shovel 210 through a communication linenetwork 260 and the communication satellite 230, and receivesinformation sent from the oil hydraulic shovel 210. Also, sending andreceiving of information are enabled between the center server 241 andthe communication device 250 through the communication line network 260.

A concrete example of theft prevention of the oil hydraulic shovel 210by the system configured as described above will be described.

A theft prevention method in the present embodiment is a method in whichin the case of turning on the engine key switch 216 of the oil hydraulicshovel 210, it is determined whether or not time in that case is withina preset operable time zone and when it is beyond the operable timezone, the engine 214 is not started and travel of the oil hydraulicshovel 210 is prohibited.

In order to implement the above control, each the communication device250 sends information about the operable time zone of the oil hydraulicshovel 210 owned by my company to the base station 240. For example, thecommunication device 250 makes access to a Web site of the base station240 using a terminal device 251, and calls an operating time zonesetting page by inputting a password as necessary, and inputs work starttime and work end time in this page. As a result of this, the centerserver 241 of the base station 240 grasps the work start time and thework end time every the communication device 250, and sends these timeinformation toward the oil hydraulic shovel 210.

The time information sent from the base station 240 is sent to the oilhydraulic shovel 210 owned by a user making setting of the time throughthe communication line network 260 and the communication satellite 230.The control unit 212 for communication receives the sent timeinformation and inputs the time information to the main control unit211. The main control unit 211 stores the inputted information, namelywork start time and work end time in memory 211A as work start timeTime_Start and work end time Time_End of said oil hydraulic shovel 210.In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, a time zone fromTime_Start to Time_End is set as an operable time zone and the othertime zone is set as an inoperable time zone.

Here, processing for receiving the information from the base station 240and setting the time zone can be performed also in the case that theengine 214 of the oil hydraulic shovel 210 has stopped. Also, in thecase of changing the information set once, the change can be made freelyby making access to the Web site of the base station 240 again.

Incidentally, since there is a case that the operable time zone of theoil hydraulic shovel 210 varies depending on work sites, it is desirablyconfigured so that the same user can make plural time settings. In thiscase, it is necessary for the center server 241 to send accurate timezone information to each the oil hydraulic shovel 210 located at eachthe work site. This can be implemented, for example, by selecting asending destination (oil hydraulic shovel 210) according to a passwordwhich a user inputs to the communication device 240 in the case of timesetting.

FIG. 9 shows theft prevention processing by the main control unit 211 ofthe oil hydraulic shovel 210.

When the engine key switch 216 is turned on, this program is activatedand it is first determined whether or not the work start time Time_Startand the work end time Time_End described above have already been storedin the memory 211A (step S101). When they have not been stored, therelay 217 is turned on and starting of the engine 214 is permitted (stepS106). In this case, the engine 214 is started with ON of the starterswitch 216.

On the other hand, when the work start time Time_Start and the work endtime Time_End have been stored, the present time Time_Now is read fromthe GPS control unit 213 (step S102). Also, the work start timeTime_Start and the work end time Time_End are read from the memory 211A(step S103).

Steps S104 and S105 are a step for determining whether or not thepresent time Time_Now is within the operable time zone of the oilhydraulic shovel 210. In the case of Time_Now≧Time_Start andTime_Now≦Time_End, it is decided that the present is within the operabletime zone, and the relay 217 is turned on and starting of the engine 214is permitted (step S106).

On the other hand, in the case of Time_Now<Time_Start or the case ofTime_Now>Time_End, it is decided that the present is beyond the operabletime zone (inoperable time zone), and the relay 217 is turned off (stepS107). In this case, even when the key switch 216 is turned on, thestarter motor 215 is not driven, so that the engine 214 is not started.Subsequently, an engine starting operation of the oil hydraulic shovel210 is performed beyond the operable time zone, so that information tothe effect that there is a possibility of theft of the oil hydraulicshovel 210 is sent from the control unit 212 for communication towardthe base station 240 (step S108).

In the present embodiment as described above, when a user reportsinformation about an operable time zone of the oil hydraulic shovel 210of my company from the communication device 250 to the base station 240,the base station 240 sends the information about the operable time zoneto the oil hydraulic shovel 210 held by its user. When the engine keyswitch 216 is turned on in the oil hydraulic shovel 210, it isdetermined whether or not the present time (time at which the key switch216 is turned on) is within the operable time zone and when it is beyondthe operable time zone, it is decided that there is a possibility oftheft, and starting of the engine 214 is prohibited and also the basestation 240 is notified of its possibility of theft. As a result ofthis, the oil hydraulic shovel 210 can be prevented from being stolen inan inoperable time zone such as night or early morning. In this method,it is quite unnecessary for an operator to input a personalidentification number or insert an IC card every time the engine 214 isstarted, and the operator has only to operate the key switch 216 merely.

Here, the determination as to whether or not it is within the operabletime zone and processing by its determination result are performedstrictly when the key switch 216 is turned on, and in the case ofdeviating from the operable time zone (the case of exceeding Time_End)during engine operation (permitted travel), the relay 217 is not turnedoff. Therefore, in this case, work can be done continuously even whenexceeding the operable time zone.

In the example of FIG. 8 described above, a time zone capable of settingin one day is only one, but it may be configured so that two or moretime zone settings in one day can be made. For example, FIG. 10 shows anexample capable of making two time zone settings in which a lunch breakis sandwiched. That is, since a work site may become unattended at alunch break as well as night or early morning, the lunch break is set toan inoperable time zone to achieve theft prevention. Also, by settingnon-working day to an inoperable time zone all day, theft of the oilhydraulic shovel 210 on the non-working day can be prevented.

Also, in the above description, the example of setting an operable timezone in one day is shown, but it may be configured so as to set anoperable period in one month. That is, a user uses the communicationdevice 250, and makes access to a Web site of the base station 240 in amanner similar to the above description, and displays an operatingperiod setting page. In this page, for example, a calendar as shown inFIG. 11 is displayed and an operator clicks the work start date and thework end date and thereby, and the center server 241 recognizes both ofthe dates and sends their dates toward the oil hydraulic shovel 210. Inthe oil hydraulic shovel 210, the work start date and the work end dateof itself are set based on its sent information. In this case, a periodfrom the work start date to the work end date becomes an operable periodand the other period becomes an inoperable period. Then, in a mannersimilar to the above description, when the engine key switch 216 isturned on, it is determined whether or not today is within the operableperiod and when it is not within the operable period, starting of theengine 214 is prohibited. This processing can be performed simply byonly changing a flowchart of FIG. 9 properly.

Also, both of the operable period and the operable time zone can be set.That is, it may be configured so that starting of the engine 214 isprohibited when time at which the key switch 216 is turned on is beyondthe operable time zone even in the case that today is within theoperable period.

Incidentally, it is configured so as to acquire the present time or dateusing the GPS satellite 220, but it may be configured so as to acquirethe present time or date from a clock mechanism or a date mechanism heldby the oil hydraulic shovel itself. Also, the example of prohibiting thestarting of the engine 214 by turning off the starter relay 217 in thecase of being beyond the operable time zone or the operable period isshown, but it may be configured so that the oil hydraulic shovel 210cannot travel by breaking a pilot oil hydraulic circuit as described in,for example, JP-A-9-50584. Specifically, it may be configured so that aswitching valve (for example, an electromagnetic valve) is provided in adischarge circuit of each pilot oil hydraulic pump and in the case ofbeing beyond an operable time zone or an operable period, the switchingvalve is set in a breaking position and in the other case, the switchingvalve is switched in a communication position. In the case that theswitching valve is in the breaking position, even when each operationmember is operated, each attachment or an actuator for swing as well asan oil hydraulic motor for travel are not driven, so that theftprevention can be achieved thereby.

Further, it may be configured such that setting of the time zone or theperiod by a user to setting of the time zone (period) in the oilhydraulic shovel 210 are made automatically, or it may be configured sothat when a user notifies the base station 240 of the time zone (period)by the phone or mail, etc., an operator of the maker side performssending to the oil hydraulic shovel 210 accordingly and on receipt ofit, the oil hydraulic shovel 210 makes setting of the time zone(period).

Or, it may be configured so that rather than sending information fromthe base station 240, an operator of the oil hydraulic shovel 210 or aserviceman of the base station 240 connects an external device (forexample, a mobile type personal computer) to the main control unit 211of the oil hydraulic shovel 210 and inputs the time or date fordetermining the time zone (period) The external device may be a portablephone and it may be configured so as to input the time or date usingoperation keys of the portable phone. It can cope with these inputs bythe external device by embedding dedicated software in the externaldevice.

Also, the theft prevention of the oil hydraulic shovel has beendescribed, but the present invention can be applied similarly to theftprevention of construction machines (for example, a crane) other thanthe oil hydraulic shovel.

Third Embodiment

Theft prevention method and system of a construction machine in a thirdembodiment of the present invention will be described below based onFIGS. 12 to 23. In the present embodiment, an oil hydraulic shovel isapplied to a target as a construction machine, and FIG. 12 is the wholeconfiguration diagram of a theft prevention system, and FIG. 13 is adiagram showing a configuration of a control apparatus 302 provided inan oil hydraulic shovel 301, and FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram ofoperating area setting by a user 310 who is an owner of the oilhydraulic shovel 301, and FIG. 15 is a flowchart of processing in apersonal computer 310 a acting as a terminal device owned by the user310 in the case of the operating area setting, and FIG. 16 is aflowchart of processing performed by abase station 306 in the case ofthe operating area setting, and FIG. 17 is a flowchart of processingperformed by the control apparatus 302 of the oil hydraulic shovel 301in the case of the operating area setting, and FIG. 18 is a flowchart ofprocessing performed in the control apparatus in the case of operating akey switch for starting an engine of the oil hydraulic shovel 301, andFIG. 19 is a diagram showing a relation between the control apparatus302 provided in the oil hydraulic shovel 301 and an engine startingcircuit.

As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the oil hydraulic shovel 301 acting as theconstruction machine to which the present embodiment is appliedcomprises an antenna 303 for receiving signals from three GPS satellites304 a, 304 b, 304 c, a GPS control unit 314 for calculating the presentposition based on the signals received by this antenna 303, a controlunit 316 for communication for communicating with a server 307 owned bya base station 306 of, for example, a maker etc. of the oil hydraulicshovel 301 as a base station or a personal computer 310 a of a user 310who is an owner of the oil hydraulic shovel 301, and a vehicle-mountedcontroller 315 for performing predetermined processing based on givingand receiving of a signal to the control unit 316 for communicationwhile inputting position information calculated from the GPS controlunit 314.

Further, as shown in FIG. 19, a signal outputted from thevehicle-mounted controller 315 switches a starter relay 317 of an engine319. The starter relay 317 is interposed between a starter motor 320 ofthe engine 319 and a key switch 318 for starting of the engine 319, andwhen the relay 317 is ON, the starter motor 320 is driven with anoperation of the key switch 318. Incidentally, numeral 321 is a batteryconnected to the key switch 318. Incidentally, as shown in FIG. 12, oilhydraulic shovels 301 a, 301 b, 301 c other than the oil hydraulicshovel 301 also have similar configurations.

Also, in the present embodiment, a communication line for portable phonewhich is a ground wave is used as means of communication with theoutside. Also, for convenience in description, combination of thevehicle-mounted controller 315 and the control unit 316 forcommunication is referred to as a control apparatus 302. Information ismutually sent and received between the oil hydraulic shovel 301 and thebase station 306 or the user 310 located at a remote site through amanagement station 305 for managing the communication line for portablephone and a public line, for example, the Internet 309. Further,communication is also conducted between the server 307 and the personalcomputer 310 a of the user 310 through the Internet 309. Incidentally,numeral 308 is a data base which is connected to the server 307 andaccumulates information sent from the oil hydraulic shovel 301 orinformation from the user 310 and accumulates information to be providedto the user 310. Also, numeral 316 a is an antenna for sending andreceiving a ground wave signal for portable phone.

In the theft prevention method and system of the construction machineaccording to the present embodiment configured as described above, whenthe user 310 sets an operable area of the oil hydraulic shovel 301 bythe personal computer 310 a, this set operating area is sent to the oilhydraulic shovel 301 through the server 307, the Internet 309, themanagement station 305 and is received by the antenna 316 a and isstored in memory 315 b provided inside the vehicle-mounted controller315 through the control unit 316 for communication. A series of thisprocessing will be described using FIGS. 14 to 17.

First, the user 310 makes access to the server 307 by the personalcomputer 310 a. In this case, access can be made to the server 307 byinputting an ID number and a password of the user 310 as shown in stepS201 of FIG. 15. In the next step S202, an ID number (N) of a targetmachine is inputted in order to identify the oil hydraulic shovel 301 ofa target of setting an operable area. In step S203, rewriting of theoperating area of the target machine is requested from the server 307.When the server 307 receives the rewriting request of the operating areawith respect to the target machine (ID=N), map information is sent tothe personal computer 310 a (of the user 310) as shown in step S207 ofFIG. 16. When the personal computer 310 a receives the map informationfrom the server 307, this map information is read as shown in step S204of FIG. 15 and the read map information is displayed on a CRT screen ofthe personal computer 310 as shown in FIG. 14. This map informationshown in FIG. 14 is map information in which a portion of the Kantoregion is enlarged and displayed and, for example, is divided intosections every prefecture. Then, in step S205, the operating area isautomatically set by selecting any of the divided prefectures. In aconventional example, it is configured so as to display a circle with aradius R about a location of the construction machine as shown in FIG.23, but in the present embodiment, for example, when the Metropolis ofTokyo is selected and set, an area surrounded by a quadrilateral cursor311 wider than an actual area of the Metropolis of Tokyo is set as shownin FIG. 14. That is, it becomes an area surrounded by latitude (a0–a1)and longitude (b0–b1) as shown in FIG. 14. Then, when the operating areais determined in step S206, in the server 307, this set operating areais associated with the ID number of the target machine and is stored inthe database 308 as shown in step S208 of FIG. 16. Then, as shown instep S209, the server 307 sends information (a0, b0), (a1, b1) aboutthis determined operating area to the target machine (ID=N: in thiscase, the oil hydraulic shovel 301).

When the target machine receives an operating area rewriting request,information (a0, b0), (a1, b1) about the operating area received fromthe server 307 is read as shown in step S210 of FIG. 17 and is stored inthe memory 315 b of the vehicle-mounted controller 315 by the next stepS211.

Next, processing for theft prevention after setting the operating area(a0, b0), (a1, b1) will be described by FIGS. 18 and 19.

In the case of starting the engine 319 of the oil hydraulic shovel 301,an identification number, for example, a personal identification numberallocated to the oil hydraulic shovel 301 is inputted. Then, when thekey switch 318 of the engine 319 is operated, as shown in step S212 ofFIG. 18, it is decided whether or not this personal identificationnumber matches with a personal identification number allocatedpreviously and when it is decided that it matches, the processingproceeds to the next step S213. In step S213, the present positioninformation about the oil hydraulic shovel 301 is read from the GPScontrol unit 314. In the next step S214, the position information readfrom the GPS control unit 314 and information about the operating areastored in the memory 315 b are read and it is compared whether or notthe position information (a, b) is within the operating area (a0, b0),(a1, b1). As a result of the comparison, when it is decided that the oilhydraulic shovel 301 is present within the operating area, it proceedsto the next step S215 and an engine starting permission signal isoutputted from the vehicle-mounted controller 315 to the starter relay317. On the other hand, when it is decided that the personalidentification number does not match in step S212 or it is decided thatthe present position of the oil hydraulic shovel 301 is beyond theoperating area in step S215, it proceeds to step S216 and a stop signalof the engine 319 is outputted from the vehicle-mounted controller 315to the starter relay 317.

The engine starting permission signal or the engine stop signaloutputted from the vehicle-mounted controller 315 switches the starterrelay 317 as shown in FIG. 19. As a result of this, starting of theengine 319 is controlled.

Incidentally, as described above, in the present embodiment, areasrespectively wider with respect to the divided sections, for example,prefectures are set. This is because, for example, in the case of doingwork in the vicinity of the border between the Metropolis of Tokyo andSaitama Prefecture, it is assumed that the oil hydraulic shovel 301moves out of the operating area by travel when too close setting ismade. Also, as shown in FIG. 20, for example, two places of theMetropolis of Tokyo and Fukushima Prefecture can be set as operatingareas. This is provided because it takes time and effort to reset theoperating area every movement in the case that work is scheduled in thetwo places of the Metropolis of Tokyo and Fukushima Prefecture within acertain period. In the case that only one place can be set, when settingat the next work site is forgot, a disadvantage that the oil hydraulicshovel 301 cannot be operated, etc. occurs. On the contrary, such adisadvantage is eliminated by setting plural places.

Incidentally, the portable phone itself may be used as the control unit316 for communication of the oil hydraulic shovel 301 described above.In this case, as shown in FIG. 22, connection to the vehicle-mountedcontroller 315 may be made through an interface 322 for input/output, orcommunication with the vehicle-mounted controller 315 may be conductedby an infrared signal.

Also, as shown in FIG. 21, a portable personal computer 323 etc. inwhich an operating area is preset may be carried into an operating siteof the oil hydraulic shovel 301 to directly write information about theoperating area in the memory 315 b through the interface 322.

Further, in the embodiment described above, it is configured so that thevehicle-mounted controller 315 automatically outputs the stop signal ofthe engine 319 to the starter relay 317 when the present position of theoil hydraulic shovel 301 is beyond the operating area, but it may beconfigured so that the fact that it is beyond the operating area is oncesent to the side of the user 310 and it is decided whether or notstarting of the engine 319 is prohibited in the side of the user 310 andits result is sent to the vehicle-mounted controller 315. Incidentally,also in this case, there in no difference in that a decision as towhether or not the oil hydraulic shovel 301 is within the operating areais made in the side of the oil hydraulic shovel 301.

As described above, according to the third embodiment based on thepresent invention, all of the comparison between the operating area (a0,b0), (a1, b1) preset by the user 310 and the present position (a, b) andthe decision as to whether or not to operate based on this comparisonresult, etc. are made by the vehicle-mounted control unit 315 providedin the oil hydraulic shovel 301, so that it is unnecessary to sendposition information to the server 307 or the user 310 every timestarting of the engine 319 is operated once the operating area is set inthe memory 315 b. Therefore, an influence of environment of noise etc.in the periphery of a site at which the oil hydraulic shovel 301 islocated is little suffered, and also communication cost can be reducedas low as possible since the number of communications decreases. Also,when only setting of the operating area is made, processing for theftprevention can be performed in the side of the oil hydraulic shovel 301,so that a ground wave for portable phone can be used even in the case ofdoing work at a site such as a mountain region. Including this pointtoo, the communication cost can be reduced remarkably than communicationthrough a communication satellite.

Also, the user 310 can make setting easily by selecting an operatingarea from among plural sections stored in the server 307. Further, thisset operating area is sent to the oil hydraulic shovel 301 via theserver 307 and is stored in the memory 315 b of the vehicle-mountedcontroller 315, so that the operating area can be set easily and alsothis set operating area can be transferred easily to the oil hydraulicshovel 301.

Fourth Embodiment

A fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described belowbased on FIGS. 24 to 32.

A configuration described in the embodiment is merely illustrated to theextent to which the present invention can be understood and implemented.Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the embodimentdescribed below, and can be changed to various forms without departingfrom the scope of a technical idea shown in claims.

FIG. 24 schematically shows the whole configuration of a peripheralsystem including a construction machine to which a theft preventionmethod according to the present invention is applied. In a constructionmachine of the present embodiment and a system including thisconstruction machine, the theft prevention method according to thepresent invention is implemented. In the present embodiment, an exampleof an oil hydraulic shovel 401 is shown as a construction machine, and amaker 402 for manufacturing and selling the oil hydraulic shovel 401 anda user 403 for using the oil hydraulic shovel 401 are shown as elementsforming said system. In this system, the oil hydraulic shovel 401 isnormally arranged at a work site or near to the work site. The maker 402or the user 403 resides in a position spatially or geographically remotefrom this oil hydraulic shovel 401. Incidentally, the constructionmachine is not limited to the oil hydraulic shovel.

In the system described above, in order to make connections among theoil hydraulic shovel 401, the maker 402 and the user 403, IT(information technology) is utilized and an Internet network 411, anintra-company LAN 412 and a communication line 413 using a communicationsatellite 413 a are provided and further a GPS satellite system 424using orbit satellites 424 a, 424 b, 424 c for measuring a position ofthe oil hydraulic shovel 401 is provided. The oil hydraulic shovel 401is equipped with a control apparatus 414 formed of a computer, a GPSdevice 423 including an antenna 423 a for GPS, and a communicationdevice 442 including an antenna 415 for communication.

In a configuration of the present embodiment, the communication device442 is included in the control apparatus 414 as shown in FIG. 25. In themaker 402, a base station 416 is provided and a management server (orcenter server) 417 and a database 418 are placed in this base station416. Connection between the control apparatus 414 of the oil hydraulicshovel 401 placed at a work site and the base station 416 of the maker402 is made so that necessary information (data) can be sent andreceived regularly or irregularly via the intra-company LAN 412 using anotebook personal computer 419 used by a serviceman or via thecommunication line 413 using the communication satellite 413 a.

All of the information such as operating information or positioninformation occurring in the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is sent to themanagement server 417 of the base station 416 and is processed andstored herein. With respect to the information sent from the oilhydraulic shovel 401, the management server 417 sends information abouta command or data as necessary. Data such as an operating state, asetting state and position information about the oil hydraulic shovel401 is stored in the database 418 and is managed.

The maker 402 is connected to a branch office 420 through theintra-company LAN 412. Therefore, a salesman or a serviceman 420 a inthe branch office 420 can make access to the management server 417 andthe database 418 using an input terminal 420 b placed therein, and canutilize failure diagnosis or quality assurance information by retrievingand fetching data necessary for the job. Also, the maker 402 is providedwith an outside server 421 connected to the intra-company LAN 412. Usingthis outside server 421, necessary information is posted to the user 403via the Internet network 411 and various proposals can be made withrespect to a use method and maintenance of the oil hydraulic shovel.Incidentally, the management server 417 of the base station 416 isconnected to a computer 422 for storing test data (repair and inspectioninformation or part replacement information) provided separately. Datastored in the computer 422 is also downloaded to the management server417 properly and is stored in the database 418 thereof.

Also, the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is equipped with the GPS device 423.This GPS device 423 is a position measuring device, and receives signalsgiven from at least three orbit satellites 424 a, 424 b, 424 c of theGPS satellite system 424, and measures the present position of the oilhydraulic shovel 401 using said signals. Measurement of this presentposition is made at proper time intervals required.

Present position data of the oil hydraulic shovel 401 measured at thetime intervals set based on the GPS device 423 is transmitted to thecontrol apparatus 414, and is stored in memory built into the controlapparatus 414 along with measured time and date data. Further, using adata processing function and a communication function of the controlapparatus 414 and the communication line 413, the control apparatus 414sends data of the present position and the measured time and date to themanagement server 417 of the base station 416 with set sending timing.

A side view of the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is shown in FIG. 25. The oilhydraulic shovel 401 comprises a lower travel body 431 for traveling byan oil hydraulic motor, an upper swing body 432 in which an engine, anoil hydraulic pump, oil hydraulic piping, a power source battery, adriving cab 433, etc. are placed, and a front mechanism portion 437including a boom 434, an arm 435 and a bucket 436. The bucket 436 is awork performance mechanism portion, and is a portion replaced andchanged freely according to work in a user. This oil hydraulic shovel401 comprises the control apparatus 414 and an antenna 415 forcommunication, and the GPS device 423 and an antenna 423 a for GPS in aplace of, for example, the driving cab 433. The control apparatus 414comprises a main controller 441 and the communication device 442. TheGPS device 423 is connected to the main controller 441.

The GPS device 423 and the communication device 442 are connected to anaction stop control portion 425. In the case of receiving a signal fromthe GPS device 423 or the communication device 442, the action stopcontrol portion 425 breaks a current-carrying system or a fuel supplysystem or an oil hydraulic system, and stops an action of the oilhydraulic shovel 401.

Incidentally, the oil hydraulic shovel 401 shown in FIGS. 24 and 25 isarranged at each of many work sites actually under management based onthe management server 417 and many oil hydraulic shovels are present.Many oil hydraulic shovels 401 have the same configuration as theconfiguration described above basically.

FIG. 26 is a diagram schematically showing a relation between the oilhydraulic shovels 401 arranged at each of many work sites and the basestation 416. Each the oil hydraulic shovel 401 comprises the controlapparatus 414 including the main controller 441, the communicationdevice 442 and the antenna 415 for communication, the GPS device and theantenna for GPS, and the action stop control portion 425. In each of theoil hydraulic shovels 401 shown by other broken line blocks exceptingone block in the diagram, the GPS device etc. are omitted and drawn, buteach of the oil hydraulic shovels 401 also has the same configuration.

The base station 416 is provided with a communication device 316 a, themanagement server 417 and the database (DB) 418. A ten-key pad 443 forgiving necessary information (the contents of change or replacement) asrequired is properly connected to the main controller 441. Using thecommunication line 413 formed by the communication satellite 413 a,information is sent and received through the communication device 442between each the control apparatus 414 of many oil hydraulic shovels 401shown in FIG. 26 and the management server 417 of the base station 416.

Also, the GPS device 423 is connected to the main controller 441. TheGPS device 423 receives signals given from at least three orbitsatellites 424 a, 424 b, 424 c through the antenna 423 a for GPS.Further, the GPS device 423 and the communication device 442 areconnected to the action stop control portion 425.

Next, internal configurations of the main controller 441, the GPS device423 and the communication device 442 and configurations of theirperipheral portions will be described with reference to FIG. 27.

The main controller 441 comprises a CPU (central processing unit) 4401,memory 4402, an input interface 4403, an output interface 4404, and aninput/output interface 4405. Plural control programs 4406 for variouswork actions and data (such as a work area, a control parameter, aconstant) 4407 necessary for control of the work actions are stored inthe memory 4402.

Signals outputted from an input portion 444 on a driving operation panelprovided in the driving cab 433 and plural sensors 445 provided in eachportion of an oil hydraulic system or an electric system, etc. of theoil hydraulic shovel 401 are inputted to the input interface 4403. Anon-off input of an engine key for turning on or off an engine isincluded in the input portion 444. Also, the input interface 4403 has aconnection terminal 4408 and a ten-key pad 443 is connected to thisconnection terminal 4408 freely as required. Further, the GPS device 423is connected to the input interface 4403.

The GPS device 423 comprises the antenna 423 a for GPS, a GPS controller4412, a receiving portion 4413 and a timer circuit 4414. The measuredpresent position data of the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is inputted to theinput interface 4403 through the receiving portion 4413 and the GPScontroller 4412 of the GPS device 423. Since the time and date dataaccording to universal standard time can generally be obtained from eachof the orbit satellites 424 a, 424 b, 424 c of the GPS satellite system424, the measured time and date data along with the present positiondata are also given to the CPU 4401 through the input interface 4403.The CPU 4401 stores the present position data and the measured time anddate data given from the GPS device 423 into a portion of the data 4407of the memory 4402.

A driving and control system 446 is connected to the output interface4404. The CPU 4401 gives a command value or a setting value forinstructing its action to the driving and control system 446. Based onthese command value or setting value, an action of the driving andcontrol system 446 is controlled and the work performance mechanismportion such as the bucket 436 provided in the top of the frontmechanism portion 437 is caused to perform an action necessary for work.The work performance mechanism portion includes a breaker, a widebucket, etc. in addition to the bucket. The work performance mechanismportion is freely attached and detached with respect to the frontmechanism portion 437 according to required work, and is used asattachment parts.

Also, the action stop control portion 425 is connected to the outputinterface 4404. The CPU 4401 compares a work area stored in a portion ofthe data 4407 of the memory 4402 with the present position measured bythe GPS device 423, and sends an action stop signal to the action stopcontrol portion 425 through the output interface 4404 when it is decidedthat the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is beyond the work area.

The communication device 442 is connected to the input/output interface4405. The communication device 442 comprises the antenna 415 forcommunication, a communication controller 4409, a sending and receivingportion 4410, and a timer circuit 4411. In the case of starting of theoil hydraulic shovel 401, that is, the case of inputting ON of an enginekey to the input portion 444, information is sent to the base station416 through the communication device 442. Position information oroperating information, etc. including the position data and the measuredtime and date data stored in the data 4407 of the memory 4402 isincluded in this sent information.

Incidentally, as an example of the control programs 4406 stored in thememory 4402, according to a type of the oil hydraulic shovel 401, forexample, there are a program for interference prevention control, aprogram for performing are a limit control, a program for attitudecontrol of a construction machine, a program for controlling operatingcharacteristics (the maximum flow rate of pump) of an oil hydraulicpump, and so on. In these programs, a portion of the contents varyaccording to the front mechanism portion 437 and the work performancemechanism portion provided in the oil hydraulic shovel 401. Also, as anexample of the data 4407 stored in the memory 4402, there are varioussizes of the front mechanism portion 437, an interference preventionarea, or parameters of a control gain, the maximum tilt angle of pump,the number of revolutions of an engine, and so on.

The GPS device 423 and the communication device 442 are connected to theaction stop control portion 425. In the case of inputting ON of anengine key to the input portion 444, the GPS device 423 activates theGPS controller 4412 and receives signals from the orbit satellites 424a, 424 b, 424 c through the GPS antenna 423 a by the receiving portion4413. At the same time, the timer circuit 4414 starts clocking. Thetimer circuit 4414 clocks non-receivable time taken from the ON of theengine key to reception of the signals by the receiving portion 4413. Anon-receivable signal is outputted from the GPS controller 4412 to theaction stop control portion 425 on condition that this non-receivabletime exceeds predetermined reference time.

In the case of inputting an engine key ON signal to the input portion444, the communication device 442 activates the communication controller4409, and calls position information and operating information, etc.including the position data and the measured time and date data from thememory 401. This position information and operating information are sentto the base station 416 through the sending and receiving portion 4410.At the time of this sending, the timer circuit 4411 starts clocking.With respect to information sent from the oil hydraulic shovel 401, themanagement server 417 of the base station 416 sends information about acommand etc. to said oil hydraulic shovel 401. The timer circuit 4411clocks non-receivable time taken to receive information sent from themanagement server 417. A non-receivable signal is outputted from thecommunication controller 4409 to the action stop control portion 425 oncondition that this clocked non-receivable time exceeds predeterminedreference time.

In the case of receiving the non-receivable signal from the GPS device423 or the communication device 442, the action stop control portion 425breaks a current-carrying system 426 or a fuel supply system 427 or anoil hydraulic system 428, and stops an action of the oil hydraulicshovel 401.

Next, detection of a signal non-receivable state by the GPS device 423and the communication device 442 and an action stop of the oil hydraulicshovel 401 will be described with reference to FIGS. 28 and 29. FIG. 28is a flowchart showing a flow for stopping an action of the oilhydraulic shovel 401 by a signal non-receivable state of the GPS device423.

When an engine key included in the input portion 444 becomes ON orwiring is directly connected by a thief to become a power ON state (stepS311), clocking is started by the timer circuit 4414 (step S312). Whenan on-receivable state by the GPS device 423 continues and clockednon-receivable time reaches reference time (step S313), a non-receivablesignal is outputted to the action stop control portion 425 (step S314).In the case of receiving the non-receivable signal, the action stopcontrol portion 425 breaks the current-carrying system 426, the fuelsupply system 427, the oil hydraulic system 428, and shifts the oilhydraulic shovel 401 to an inoperable state (step S315). Incidentally,when it becomes a receivable state before the duration of thenon-receivable state reaches the reference time, starting is performedas usual (step S316).

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a flow for stopping an action of the oilhydraulic shovel 401 by a signal non-receivable state of thecommunication device 442.

When an engine key included in the input portion 444 becomes ON orwiring is directly connected by a thief to become a power ON state (stepS321), the communication controller 4409 of the communication device 442is activated and sends position information and operating information tothe base station 416 through the sending and receiving portion 4410(step S322). Concurrently with the sending, the timer circuit 4411starts clocking (step S323). As described above, in the case ofreceiving information such as operating information from the oilhydraulic shovel 401, the management server 417 of the base station 416sends information about a command etc. to said oil hydraulic shovel 401.The timer circuit 4411 clocks time taken to receive an answer ofinformation from the management server 417. When clocked non-receivabletime reaches reference time (step S324), a non-receivable signal isoutputted to the action stop control portion 425 (step S325). In thecase of receiving the non-receivable signal, the action stop controlportion 425 breaks the current-carrying system 426, the fuel supplysystem 427, the oil hydraulic system 428, and shifts the oil hydraulicshovel 401 to an inoperable state (step S326). Incidentally, when theanswer of information from the management server 417 is received beforethe duration of the non-receivable state reaches the reference time,starting is performed as usual (step S327).

The GPS device 423 can be operated not only when the oil hydraulicshovel 401 is operating but also when it is not operating. That is,after the engine key of the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is turned off afterthe completion of work, the GPS device 423 is shifted to an operatingstate (wake-up state) for a constant period regularly or irregularly. Inthe case of being configured thus, in order to measure a position of theoil hydraulic shovel 401, it is necessary to check that the antenna 423a for GPS is normal and further decide that the oil hydraulic shovel 401is within a predetermined area. That is, the fact that the antenna 423 afor GPS is normal means that the antenna for GPS is not destroyed andcut by a thief, and the fact that the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is withinthe predetermined area means that the oil hydraulic shovel is notcarried away beyond the predetermined area by putting it on a traileretc. without turning on a power source of the oil hydraulic shovel 401by a thief.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing control performed in view of thecircumstances described above. It is decided whether there is in aposition measurement state or a position non-measurement state by theGPS controller 4412 of the GPS device 423 (step S331). When it isdecided that there is in the position non-measurement state, clocking isstarted by the timer circuit 4414 (step S332). That is, the positionnon-measurement state is monitored by the timer circuit 4414. Whenclocked position non-measurement monitoring time exceeds a presetmonitoring time maximum value (step S333), engine starting is prohibitedand an oil hydraulic system is broken (step S334).

On the other hand, when the clocked position non-measurement monitoringtime does not exceed the monitoring time maximum value, the flowchartreturns to step S331, and it is decided that there is in the positionmeasurement state, and the position non-measurement monitoring time iscleared (step S335). Since the GPS device 423 is in the positionmeasurement state, it is decided whether or not the present positionfurther measured is within a predetermined work area (step S336). Whenthe measured present position of the oil hydraulic shovel 401 is beyondthe predetermined work area, prohibition control of the engine startingand the oil hydraulic system is performed (step S334).

As described above, to stop an action of the oil hydraulic shovel 401 bydeciding whether or not the GPS device 423 or the communication device442 is in a receiving state at the time of starting of the oil hydraulicshovel 401 by the duration of the non-receivable state, or by decidingwhether or not it is in a receiving state by the GPS device 423 at thetime of operation or no operation of the oil hydraulic shovel 401 bymonitoring time of a position non-measurement state and deciding whetheror not the position further measured is within the work area in the caseof deciding that there is in a position measurement state is useful fortheft prevention.

However, it is also considered that the signal non-receivable state iscaused due to cutting and damage to antenna wiring of the GPS device 423or the communication device 442. That is, it is considered that theantenna wiring of the GPS device 423 or the communication device 442 isphysically cut by a thief. In this case, it is desirable to stop amaction of the construction machine immediately after detecting thecutting and damage to the antenna wiring without measuring the durationof the non-receivable state as described above.

Thus, a theft prevention method of the case of cutting a concentrationcable 450 formed by bundling antenna wiring of a GPS device 423 and acommunication device 442 and a disconnection detection wiring 429 willbe proposed below as another embodiment of a theft prevention methodaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 31 is a configuration diagram of a control apparatus 414, a GPSdevice 423 and a disconnection detection portion 430 of an oil hydraulicshovel 401 and their peripheral portions. The control apparatus 414comprises a main controller 441 and a communication device 442. The GPSdevice 423 and the communication device 442 are connected to the maincontroller 441. A concentration cable 450 is formed by bundling wiringof an antenna 423 a for GPS of the GPS device 423, wiring of an antenna415 for communication of the communication device 442 and disconnectiondetection wiring 429. The disconnection detection portion 430 isprovided in the end of the disconnection detection wiring 429 and whendisconnection is detected, a disconnection detection signal is outputtedto an action stop control portion 425. In a connection state, a groundpotential level is inputted to the disconnection detection portion 430by the disconnection detection wiring 429, but when a disconnectionstate occurs, predetermined high voltage is applied to an input portionof the disconnection detection portion 430. As a result of this,disconnection is detected. The disconnection detection signal isoutputted from the disconnection detection portion 430 by simultaneouslycutting the disconnection detection wiring at the time of cutting theconcentration cable for the purpose of cutting the wiring of the antenna423 a for GPS and the antenna 415 for communication.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing a flow for stopping an action of the oilhydraulic shovel 401 according to disconnection detection of thedisconnection detection portion 430.

When an engine key included in an input portion 444 becomes ON or wiringis directly connected by a thief to become a power ON state (step S341),it is determined whether or not a concentration cable has beendisconnected (step S342). When disconnection of the concentration cableis detected by the disconnection detection portion 430, a disconnectiondetection signal is outputted (step S343). In the case of receiving thedisconnection detection signal, the action stop control portion 425breaks a current-carrying system, a fuel supply system, an oil hydraulicsystem, and shifts the oil hydraulic shovel 401 to an inoperable state(step S344). Incidentally, when the disconnection of the concentrationcable is not detected by the disconnection detection portion 430,starting is performed as usual (step S345).

In the description of the embodiments described above, in detection ofthe signal non-receivable state, for example, as shown in FIG. 27, it isconfigured so as to detect the signal non-receivable state by thecommunication controller 4409 of the communication device 442 or the GPScontroller 4412 of the GPS device 423, but it is not limited to this.For example, it may be configured so that it is determined whether ornot there is in the signal non-receivable state by the CPU 4401 of themain controller 441 and a control command of an action stop is issued tothe action stop control portion 425.

Although the present invention has been described in detail withreference to particular embodiments, it is obvious by those skilled inthe art that various changes and modifications can be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application (No.127125 of 2001) filed on Apr. 25, 2001, Japanese Patent Application (No.134289 of 2001) filed on May 1, 2001, Japanese Patent Application (No.221517 of 2001) filed on Jul. 23, 2001 and Japanese Patent Application(No. 225260 of 2001) filed on Jul. 26, 2001, and the contents are takenherein as reference.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, amanagement system of a construction machine capable of speedily copingwith a case that a situation necessary to urgently cope with theft etc.of the construction machine occurs can be provided.

1. A security system of a construction machine, comprising: aconstruction machine comprising a data sending and receiving portion forsending first information, a storage portion for storing receivedinformation, and a control portion for controlling an operation of theconstruction machine, a base station for receiving the first informationfrom the data sending and receiving portion of the construction machineand sending second information to the construction machine and managingthe construction machine, and a communication device which is connectedto the base station through a communication network and can send thirdinformation to the construction machine through the base station.
 2. Asecurity system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 1,characterized in that the first information relates to operatinginformation about the construction machine, and the communication devicerequests acquisition of the first information from the base station. 3.A security system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 1,characterized in that the communication device comprises one or pluralfixed type and portable type communication devices.
 4. A security systemof a construction machine as claimed in claim 1, characterized in thatthe communication network between the base station and the communicationdevice is the Internet.
 5. A security system of a construction machineas claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the fixed typecommunication device is a terminal including a personal computer capableof being connected to the communication network, and the portable typecommunication device includes a portable phone.
 6. A security system ofa construction machine as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that thefirst information is information about theft of the constructionmachine.
 7. A security system of a construction machine as claimed inclaim 6, characterized in that the first information is sent from thebase station to the communication device by electronic mail.
 8. Asecurity system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 6,characterized in that the storage portion stores an operable operatingarea, and the control portion decides that the construction machine hasbeen stolen when it is detected that the construction machine movesbeyond the operating area.
 9. A security system of a constructionmachine as claimed in claim 8, characterized in that the secondinformation includes information about the operating area and is storedin the storage portion as a new operating area when the constructionmachine receives the information about the operating area.
 10. Asecurity system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 9,characterized in that the communication device sends the thirdinformation to the base station and thereby the base station sends thesecond information to the construction machine.
 11. A security system ofa construction machine as claimed in claim 10, characterized in that theconstruction machine sends an answer back signal indicating thecompletion of setting of the operating area to the base station when theoperating area is set.
 12. A security system of a construction machineas claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the first informationincludes information about failure/accident of the construction machine.13. A security system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 1,characterized in that the first information includes information as towhether the construction machine is operating or stopping at present andinformation about cumulative operating time; the communication devicerequests the base station to acquire the first information from theconstruction machine; and the base station sends the second informationso as to acquire the first information from the construction machine ata point in time of receiving the third information from thecommunication device.
 14. A security system of a construction machine asclaimed in claim 1, characterized in that information about an operationof the construction machine is regularly sent from the constructionmachine to the base station as operating history information, and theoperating information about the construction machine is acquired by thecommunication device through the Internet.
 15. A security system of aconstruction machine as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that thesecond information sent from the base station relates to an operabletime zone or an operable period of the construction machine; the storageportion of the construction machine stores the operable time zone or theoperable period of the construction machine based on the secondinformation; and the control portion of the construction machineprohibits an operation of the construction machine beyond the operabletime zone or the operable period stored.
 16. A security system of aconstruction machine as claimed in claim 15, characterized in that thethird information sent from the communication device relates to theoperable time zone or the operable period in the base station, and thebase station sends the second information to the construction machinebased on the third information received from the communication device.17. A security system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 15,characterized in that the operation includes at least travel.
 18. Asecurity system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 8,characterized in that the construction machine comprises a positiondetecting portion for detecting a position of said construction machine;and when a predetermined operation is performed with respect to theconstruction machine, the control portion reads the operating areastored in the storage portion and also inputs the present positioninformation of the construction machine from the position detectingportion and compares the operating area with the position information ofthe construction machine.
 19. A security system of a constructionmachine as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that in the case ofdeciding that the construction machine is beyond the operating area, thecontrol portion outputs a signal for prohibiting an operation of theconstruction machine.
 20. A security system of a construction machine asclaimed in claim 18, characterized in that in the case of deciding thatthe construction machine is beyond the operating area, the controlportion sends the decision result to the base station side.
 21. Asecurity system of a construction machine as claimed in claim 18,characterized in that the communication device is a portable typecommunication terminal.
 22. A security system of a construction machineas claimed in claim 21, characterized in that the portable typecommunication terminal is a portable phone.
 23. A security system of aconstruction machine as claimed in claim 18, characterized in that thebase station provides map information, and the base station or thecommunication device reads the map information, and the operating areais set based on this read map information.
 24. A security system of aconstruction machine as claimed in claim 23, characterized in that themap information is divided into plural sections, and the base station orthe communication device selects and sets an operating area from amongthe divided sections.
 25. A security system of a construction machine asclaimed in claim 18, characterized in that plural areas can be set asthe operable area.
 26. A security system of a construction machine asclaimed in claim 18, characterized in that the predetermined operationis a starting operation of a prime mover provided in the constructionmachine.
 27. A security system of a construction machine as claimed inclaim 1, characterized in that the construction machine comprises aposition detecting portion for detecting a position of the constructionmachine; and when a state in which a signal according to informationfrom the outside cannot be received by the control portion of theconstruction machine occurs and the duration of the signalnon-receivable state exceeds reference time, the control portionprohibits engine starting of the construction machine or breaks an oilhydraulic system.
 28. A security system of a construction machine asclaimed in claim 27, characterized in that when a state in which asignal according to a position by the position detecting portion cannotbe received occurs and the duration of the signal non-receivable stateexceeds reference time, engine starting of the construction machine isprohibited or an oil hydraulic system is broken.
 29. A security systemof a construction machine as claimed in claim 27, characterized in thatwhen a state in which the control portion cannot receive a signalaccording to information from the center server occurs and the durationof the signal non-receivable state exceeds reference time, enginestarting of the construction machine is prohibited or an oil hydraulicsystem is shut off.
 30. A security system of a construction machine asclaimed in claim 1, characterized in that the construction machinecomprises a disconnection detection portion comprising a disconnectiondetection wiring, and a concentration cable formed by bundling antennawiring of the position detecting portion, antenna wiring of the sendingand receiving portion and the disconnection detection wiring; and whenthe disconnection detection wiring is cut at the time of cutting of theconcentration cable, the control portion prohibits engine starting ofthe construction machine or breaks an oil hydraulic system according toa disconnection detection signal sent from the disconnection detectionportion.
 31. A security system of a construction machine as claimed inclaim 27, characterized in that the engine starting is prohibited bybreaking a current-carrying system or a fuel supply system of theconstruction machine.
 32. A security system of a construction machine asclaimed in claim 30, characterized in that the engine starting isprohibited by breaking a current-carrying system or a fuel supply systemof the construction machine.